Rumble and Memos from Purgatory Summary

Ellison's first novel Rumble is a violent revenge fantasy based on material he gathered after joining a Brooklyn street gang in the late 1950s. As an evocation of the brutality and excitement of street-life, the novel succeeds fairly well, and the protagonist, Rusty Santoro, is a reasonably credible, if one-dimensional, character. However, intense although it is, Rumble lacks insight into the psychology of its characters, and, therefore, their victimization by an inhumane, depersonalized society is not very profoundly expressed. Rumble seems to be merely a violent tour de force, which focuses on the repellent details of the gang's everyday existence. In short, Ellison's first novel reveals little sense of meaningful human action, suffering or transcendence.

Rumble and Memos from Purgatory Short Guide

Harlan Ellison Biographies (2)

Described by fellow author J. G. Ballard as "an aggressive and restless extrovert who conducts his life at a shout and his fiction at a scream," Harlan Ellison is a writer who actively resists being l...
Read more

Harlan Ellison has spent much of his life evading labels. It is difficult to make a general statement about him, or about his work, that must not be followed immediately by a qualifying negation: Elli...
Read more